


human

by Nyxierose



Category: Timeless (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M, Post-Canon, christmas didn't happen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-28
Updated: 2018-12-28
Packaged: 2019-09-29 08:24:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17200001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nyxierose/pseuds/Nyxierose
Summary: Every good thing left in his life exists in the body curled up around him.





	human

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [whispers like poetry](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17161190) by [extasiswings](https://archiveofourown.org/users/extasiswings/pseuds/extasiswings), [madsthenerdygirl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/madsthenerdygirl/pseuds/madsthenerdygirl). 



Above all else, she reminds him that he is still human.

It's godawful-AM and Flynn can't sleep, a curse he thought he'd broken but has come back fiercely these past few weeks since _her_. Since this fragile thing between them blossomed, since he allowed himself to let go enough to fully let her in. The need to protect her has been the best thing in his life for years now, but it's different now that he knows the taste of her skin. Even more consuming, motivating everything else he is.

He's lost so much. He is damn well not losing her too.

In some ways, he reminds himself, most of the wounds were his own fault. Not… not what caused all this, god no, of _that_ he is innocent, but… everything else after. He's hurt so many people, none more so than the woman currently asleep in his bed, and he has deserved every bit of pain he's received in turn. It's been a while since he's even tried to justify his actions during that time - he knows he had his reasons for trying to burn the world down, but that doesn't make any of it okay. Such darkness then, so many times he almost drowned, the death wish that guided all of his actions because it seemed like the only way forward was to die for a cause, and yet-

Somehow, at his worst, she saw something worth saving in him.

Lucy is stubborn. Lucy is a lot of things, most of them much more lovable, but the trait that first caught his attention was her determination. There have been times, more than he would like to admit, that he's gotten headaches from it. If she's convinced of something, there's absolutely no stopping her, only trying to clean up the damage in her wake. And for some strange reason he dares not ask, she chose to believe there was something human left in him, even after…

Even after he tore her life apart in so many ways. Even after the hostage incident. Even after he made it abundantly clear, time after time, that he could and likely _would_ destroy her, likely by accident but destruction all the same.

He's still alive, he thinks, because she decided she didn't care.

A year and a half into working together, he can look back on the early phases of the dynamic with a certain fondness. She was so strong then, so determined to create a place for him within the team dynamic, the only person who actually wanted him there. In return, he offered her all his loyalty, and she realized what a gift that was and worked with that too. Not once has he questioned her judgment on a mission, not once has he feared she might change her mind. A year before the night she put her mouth on his, they were two halves of a whole.

He doesn't remember when he fell for her. Perhaps there wasn't a specific moment, perhaps it happened the moment he met this version of her, perhaps there was always a space in his heart that was meant for her.

(He means no dishonor to his past in any of that, and he is well aware that it is possible for a person to have multiple great loves during a lifetime. He is also well aware that he has a _type_.)

She didn't fix him. He is well aware that the dark things in his soul are likely permanent residents, and the best he can hope for is to learn to live around them. But oh, how lucky he is to have someone who _wants_ him to live.

Perhaps that was how it happened. After he'd been injured on yet another mission, once again taking a bullet for her, that time he faded out of consciousness with her yelling at him in the background. He deserved that. He did _not_ deserve for the first thing he saw when safely back in the main timeline to be her face wet with tears, the panic lifted as he became more aware of his surroundings.

From there, everything else was made clear.

Every good thing left in his life exists in the body curled up around him. Beautiful, kind, reckless in ways he has learned how to work around. It has been a long time since Flynn has thought about the concept of soulmates, and he's not sure he believes, but there is a certain symmetry in this dynamic. She fits in his empty spaces, just as he tries to fit in hers, and-

"Something wrong?"

He didn't notice her waking up, and he curses himself for getting so lost in contemplation and regret. "No," he says too quickly.

"It's three in the morning and you're wide awake. That does scare me a little."

"As are you…"

"Nightmare. Not a bad one, but… enough."

"Do you need…"

"I'll be okay. Just need a few moments to process that you're… you're here, and you're not bleeding, and…"

"Can I kiss you?" he asks, because in this mood he's not sure and-

"Please."

The distance between them feels like nothing at all, and he swears he sees a future as his tongue parts her lips. If they live, if they win… oh, there's no leaving her, he's known that for so long but now he wants more. Perhaps he _could_ be good for her, in whatever form of domesticity she might want. He supposes, objectively, that he's been decent enough as a partner for her. How that would transfer into some form of civilian life, he's not quite sure yet, but-

"You're not okay," she murmurs as they break apart.

"I am. Just thinking about you."

"Oh?"

"Would you still want me if… when this ends?"

"When we win?" she rephrases the question, because she still has more hope in their odds than he does. "Yes. I'm not getting another chance like you. And after all of this… I don't think anyone else could understand. But you do. Do you… do you _want_ to stay?"

That shouldn't be any kind of question, he wants to say, but he knows her scars too well and knows her fear of being left behind and oh, if there is one good trait he knows he has it's his loyalty. If he chooses someone, he stays. And he chose her on the darkest day of his life when a future version of her prevented the worst, and he chose her when he met the version that aligns with his own timeline and she yelled at him amidst burning wreckage, and he has chosen her every day since then.

"Yes. As long as you'll let me."

"Good."

Lucy closes her eyes and lets exhaustion take her again, and he stays awake just a little bit longer and watches her because he can. She is every good thing he wants and tries to be, and for some reason she has chosen him too, and if he survives…

Oh, if he survives, he will become human again like she deserves.


End file.
